Method of monitoring depth of anesthesia and apparatus for same

Abstract

A method of monitoring depth of anesthesia comprises generating differential EEG signals from EEG signals acquired by electrode pairs during an anesthesia protocol, processing the differential EEG signals to determine at least one signal feature and monitoring changes in the at least one signal feature to determine depth of anesthesia. The at least one signal feature comprises at least one of normalized power of the differential EEG signals acquired from at least one of the electrode pairs, and wavelet bicoherence between the differential EEG signals acquired from at least two of the electrode pairs.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 593,188 filed on Jan. 31, 2012 entitled “METHOD OF MONITORING DEPTH OF ANESTHESIA AND APPARATUS FOR SAME”, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to anesthesia and in particular, to a method of monitoring depth of anesthesia and an apparatus for same.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Anesthesia is typically used during surgery to maintain patients at a level of unconsciousness that is deep enough to enable them to undergo the surgery without pain or recall. It is undesirable to administer an excessive amount of anesthesia, as doing so can prolong the post-anesthesia recovery period following surgery. Determining the proper amount of anesthesia to administer requires a reliable measure of the depth of anesthesia (DoA) of the patient during the surgery.[0004]One approach to...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method and system for monitoring the depth of anesthesia by analyzing electrological signals from the brain. This involves using differential EEG signals to determine certain features, such as normalized power and wavelet bicoherence, which can change during anesthesia. These features are then monitored to gather information about the depth of anesthesia. The system includes electrodes placed on the scalp, a processing structure for generating differential EEG signals, and a computer program for analysis. The technical effect of this invention is to provide a more accurate and reliable means of monitoring the depth of anesthesia, which can help to improve the safety and precision of anesthesia protocols.

Problems solved by technology

It is undesirable to administer an excessive amount of anesthesia, as doing so can prolong the post-anesthesia recovery period following surgery.

It may be challenging using some known EEG-based DoA monitoring methods to identify and measure changes in the different levels of consciousness following loss of consciousness (LoC), especially during the maintenance phase of the anesthesia administration protocol.

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